Exploring factors affecting sustainable innovation performance of food firms. A case of korean food industry

This study examines the influence of government support, research and development (R&D) investment and cooperation networks on sustainable innovation performance of the medium-sized food firms in South Korea. Climate change, population growth, lifestyle change and consumer demands for new products allow firms to explore innovation for sustainable growth. In the food industry, where various stakeholders are involved in the value chain, government support, R&D investment and cooperation are affecting firms’ sustainable performance. However, there are few empirical studies that examine the relationship among them, especially regarding medium-sized food firms. This study aimed to analyze data regarding Korean food firms through a structural equation model. To overcome data scarcity, this study collected new data for 67 medium-sized food firms. The data is matched with the firms’ 10-year data on management, innovation performance, and cooperation networks. This study can contribute to filling the literature gap by exploring what innovation strategies should be used to improve food SMEs’ innovation performance in the latecomer countries, which have developed their food industries relatively recently.